how old when a cow gets horns?

[VGrossack]

Dear Cattle Experts -

I am not an expert on cattle. I am a writer, working on a novel,
and one thing I can't seem to locate while doing research
is the age cows / bulls would be when they get horns. Could
someone who knows please help?

Thanks so much
Victoria Grossack
http://www.tapestryofbronze.com

 

[Jake]

they will start to bud on normal beef cattle at around 6-10 months of age... some sooner, some later. They will continue to grow throughout the animals life.

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

Just curious.Why would someone who writes "novels" need to know when cattle get horns? Course it doesn't hurt to post your website to promote sales. ;-)

 

[VGrossack]

To answer the question: my novels are set in ancient Greece,
based on mythology and archaeology, and one of the main
characters in what I am working on starts life as a cowherd.
Cattle were very important to the Greeks (as they were to
a number of the ancient civilizations) and the area of Thebes
Greece was very much cattle country! Anyway, he is herding
a bull-calf, age about 6 months, and despite much research
up until now I couldn't figure out whether he would have horns
at this age or not. So I am grateful for the answer!

For more information about my novels, you can go to
http://www.tapestryofbronze.com

The first novel (Iokaste: The Novel of the Mother-Wife of
Oedipus) was selected by "Parent Wise. Austin" as their
book club selection for April. But there is very little about
cattle in that book! More in the next one - and for this
there is no publication date, as I need to finish it first. But it's
coming along, and one of my publishers has said that they
would "love" to see it.

Kind regards
Victoria

 

[Jake]

To answer the question: my novels are set in ancient Greece,
based on mythology and archaeology, and one of the main
characters in what I am working on starts life as a cowherd.
Cattle were very important to the Greeks (as they were to
a number of the ancient civilizations) and the area of Thebes
Greece was very much cattle country! Anyway, he is herding
a bull-calf, age about 6 months, and despite much research
up until now I couldn't figure out whether he would have horns
at this age or not. So I am grateful for the answer!

For more information about my novels, you can go to
http://www.tapestryofbronze.com

The first novel (Iokaste: The Novel of the Mother-Wife of
Oedipus) was selected by "Parent Wise. Austin" as their
book club selection for April. But there is very little about
cattle in that book! More in the next one - and for this
there is no publication date, as I need to finish it first. But it's
coming along, and one of my publishers has said that they
would "love" to see it.

Kind regards
Victoria

a calf at that age would only possible be starting to bud horns depending on breed. and buds are a long ways from horns

 

[VGrossack]

Thank you, Jake! No horns - just buds.

Victoria

 

[Jake]

Thank you, Jake! No horns - just buds.

Victoria

well now even then there may not deffinately be buds... like I said depends on the breed your talkin about, if you know do some research on it and if it's a large horned animal then I would venture to say that it has buds, if horns are smaller or medium sized I'd say that the animal would be older when buds start.

 

[VGrossack]

It takes place 3000 years ago, so it is hard to be 100% sure.
But it will be a large-horned animal, so I will give it buds.
But nothing else!

Victoria
http://www.tapestryofbronze.com

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

On Horns:

A Longhorn (Texas Longhorn "breed") will have horn buds at birth. And, the better ones will have horns out to the end of their ears at weaning (6 to 7 months old). They continue to grow throughout the animals life.

Longhorn cattle are descendants from some of the Spanish breeds.

 

[SF]

Horned Herefords will have buds at birth. Horns will be 3 to 5 inches at 6 months old.

Most horned cattle will have buds at birth and they grow from there.

 

[Boochiedeb]

Do Holsteins get horns?

 

[Alan]

Yes Holsteins have horns, Couldn't tell you if they have "polled" Holsteins. Wasn't into the dehorning much but know we did it.

Alan

 

[milkmaid]

There are polled holsteins out there - haven't actually seen one myself, but I've seen polled bulls advertised.

 

[dun]

There are polled holsteins out there - haven't actually seen one myself, but I've seen polled bulls advertised.

I don;t know if it was/is authenticated, but the calim about pollee Holsteins is that they have a lower milk production then the horned variety. Could be the individual animals, but that has been the knock on them in the past.

3000 years ago, would that have been the Auroch? Just curious, don;t recall cattle history that well. After all, it was before even my time.

dun

 

[sidney411]

We have a couple 1-2 month old calves that have horn buds about the size of nickles sitting on their heads. Not sure where they came from, polled cows and a polled bull, ah, must be some horns in the wood pile somewhere.

 

[VGrossack]

to dun:

The Aurochs are the ancestors of most cattle today, but cattle have been domesticated a long time - there seems to be evidence going back nine or ten thousand years BC. There also seems to be interbreeding with other closely related species - the yak and the zebu. The last wild aurochs died out in the 1600's, according to my sources. They were
larger than the domesticated cattle, which were probably breeded for tameness as well as other qualities.

kind regards
Victoria
http://www.tapestryofbronze.com

 

[Rustler9]

The bull calf that your character is herding in the novel would probably have horns at six months of age. They would probably be 4 to 6 inches long at this point. With my Longhorn cattle they are at least this long at that age and many times longer.

 

[TxSimbrahShower]

a calf at that age would only possible be starting to bud horns depending on breed. and buds are a long ways from horns

Brahman type cattle, if horned, are born with buds right under the skin, by the time that they are 6 months old, can have horns 2 to 3 inches long.

Jake, you been dealing with those continental breeds too long.

 

[jerry27150]

no dun, there is no difference in the miling ability of polled or horned holsteins, really don't know why there was never a big push for polled. but they are always close for dehorning anyway & it never was that big of a deal

 

[dun]

no dun, there is no difference in the miling ability of polled or horned holsteins, really don't know why there was never a big push for polled. but they are always close for dehorning anyway & it never was that big of a deal

I was never able to figure out the linkage of milk and horns, but that was the common thought years ago. It may very well have been the old single trait selection process rearing it's ugly head. Some people were working so hard to generate homozygous polled Holsteins that the let the traits that make the Holstein the favored dairy breed be lost in the selection. We saw the same type of thing happen with Polled Herefords. They got so hot to trot on polled that they lost the characteristics and traits that Herefords a significant beef animal. Still today we hear that Polled Herefords don;t have the muscle that horned Herefords do.
I looked for that old article on the polled Holsteins and can;t find it, but there were several others that I found interesting.
I think your idea of they're close and no big deal pretty well sums it up. If there are no significant advantages, why bother. I've just alwasy prefered polled (except for oxen candidates) because it's one less thing that needs to be done when there isn;t enough time to do the urgent things that need to be done.

dun